Writer/director John Godber has built up an impressive reputation for the Hull Truck theatre company, with productions on topical subjects, such as rugby league and disco night life. This programme follows his play Blood, Sweat and Tears, about judo champion Karen Briggs, from his first meeting with Karen, through the cast’s instruction in judo, to final rehearsals.
Peter Shaffer
This programme with Peter Shaffer, one of the world’s most successful contemporary playwrights, looks at his concerns as a writer, his skill as a story-teller and his mastery of theatrical spectacle. He is seen at work on his play, Yonadab, in the weeks leading up to its opening night. Specially-staged extracts from Amadeus, Equus and The Royal Hunt of the Sun provide the basis for a discussion of his work.
Marguerite Yourcenar
Marguerite Yourcenar (1903-87) was the first woman to be elected to the illustrious Academie Française. This programme records an extended interview she gave the year before she died. At home, on the island off the coast of Maine where she lived as a virtual recluse from the 1930s on, she talks in depth about her life and work, which is illustrated with readings by actress Janet Suzman.
James Joyce
This series examines the lives and principal works of ten great modernist writers, the giants of European literature at the turn of the nineteenth Century, whose thought and writing foreshadowed the age to come and whose influence is still felt today. Each programme explores the unique imaginative world of its subject, combining drama, documentary and critical explanation. “Anyone who sees the series, will acquire a remarkably clear idea of the Modern movement in literature and what it represents: in technique, experimentation and introspection; in content, paranoia and despair.” (Financial Times) Joseph Conrad (R0327) Fyodor Dostoevsky (R0225) T.S. Eliot (R0311) Henrik Ibsen (R0310) James Joyce (R0199) Franz Kafka (R0273) Thomas Mann (R0275) Luigi Pirandello (R279) Marcel Proust (R0281) Virginia Woolf (R0274) A follow-u programme is available, in which a panel of writers, including series consultant Malcolm Bradbury, discusses ideas which have been raised. Silver Medal, New York International Film and TV Festival Cable Ace, Best International Cuitural Series
Truman Capote
The infamous American novelist, short story writer and social commentator projected a compelling and often controversial public image right up until his death, from drugs and drink, in 1984. Filmed in America, this programme reflects the dark and light of Capote’s life and work. It draws on his outspoken – often outrageous – television appearances and includes recollections from many of his closest friends, as well as a dramatisation from his unfinished novel, Answered Prayers.
Peter Ackroyd
One of Britain’s most original contemporary writers, Peter Ackroyd talks about his gripping murder mystery Hawksmoor, in which he explores the enduring spirit of London and the nature of time. The programme includes extensive dramatised extracts.
King Lear
Shakespeare’s tragedy is one of the finest pieces of theatre of all time. To explore the play’s enduring significance, this programme recorded work in progress on a Royal National Theatre production, directed by David Hare, with Anthony Hopkins in the title role. Some of the great Lears of the past are seen on archive film, including Olivier, Scofield and Hordern, and directors Peter Brook and Jonathan Miller discuss their acclaimed interpretations of the work.
Jean Genet
A once-and-for-all glimpse into the unique story and thought processes of Jean Genet, one of France’s most interesting literary figures, who gave this first and only in-depth television interview just six months before his death in 1986. Genet remained unrepentant about his past as a thief and prostitute, and was still questioning society’s expectations. He had lost none of his power to overturn preconceptions and to confront and disturb his audience.
Marguerite Duras
The distinguished French novelist and film-maker, who died in 1996, talks frankly about the hardship and romance of her childhood in Indo-China. She discusses how her early experiences have haunted her life and why she has returned to them repeatedly in her work, most notably in her best-selling novel, The Lover, which won the coveted Prix Goncourt. The programme features clips from her films and illustrated readings from her books.
Dylan Thomas
When Anthony Hopkins led a star-studded, all-Welsh cast in an audio recording of Dylan Thomas’s play for voices, Under Milk Wood, the cameras were on hand to capture the process on film. The programme visits Laugharne, the small Welsh town on which the work is based, where Thomas lived at the end of his life. It also examines his later years and the demons which drove him to create this nostalgic vision.